By John RittenhouseA late uprising by the Lincoln HI Rebels kept the Luverne girls’ basketball team from winning their season opener Tuesday in Luverne.Trailing by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, Luverne battled back in the second and third stanzas to gain a 43-42 edge heading into the final eight minutes of play.Luverne’s victory bid was crushed in the fourth quarter, when the Rebels outscored the Cardinals 20-2 to pull out a 62-45 win."We just let it slip away from us," Luverne coach Jason Phelps said after the game.The game started off well for LHS.After LH scored the first two points, Luverne received four points from senior Danielle Loosbrock during a 6-0 run that gave the Cards a 6-2 advantage.The Rebels countered with an 8-0 run to move in front 10-8 before closing the quarter with another 8-0 run to open an 18-8 cushion at period’s end.Luverne got back into the game in the second quarter by outscoring the Rebels 12-5.The Cards trimmed the difference to four points twice (18-22 and 24-20) before facing a 25-22 halftime deficit when Samantha Gacke drained a field goal with four seconds left in the second quarter.Luverne forged in front 31-30 when Mindy Nieuwboer connected for a field goal at the 6:13 mark in the third quarter, but the Rebels scored the next five points to gain a 35-31 lead.The Cardinals rallied to tie the game at 38 and 40 before Maggie Kuhlman sank a three-point shot in the final minute of the third period to turn a 42-40 deficit into a 43-42 lead.LH captured the momentum early in the fourth quarter by scoring the first 11 points to take a 53-43 lead.After Luverne trimmed the difference to eight points, the Rebels scored the game’s final nine counters to prevail by 17.Kuhlman, who scored 18 points in the second and third quarters, led the Cards with 22 points. Kuhlman, Tori Snyder and Marissa Stewart, who added five points to Luverne’s third quarter rally, charted three assists each.Loosbrock led the hosts with six rebounds. Nieuwboer, who netted eight points, set the pace with four steals.The 0-1 Cards host Southwest Christian Saturday before playing in Lennox, S.D., Tuesday.Box scoreNieuwboer 4 0 0-0 8, Snyder 0 0 0-2 0, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 5 4 0-0 22, Stewart 1 1 0-0 5, Loosbrock 3 0 0-0 6, Van De Berg 1 0 0-0 2, Gacke 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 20 of 50 field goals (40 percent), zero of three free throws (zero percent), 22 rebounds, 27 turnovers.LH: 23 of 58 field goals (39 percent), 16 of 31 free throws (51 percent), 30 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
